Busted for San Ramon bank robberies, man says drug dealers made him do it

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A man robbed the same San Ramon bank twice, netting more than $10,000, and then blamed drug dealers for putting him up to it, according to the FBI.

On July 1, Benjamin Kairalla went into the Bank of the West at 140 Sunset Dr., placed a bag and a handwritten note with the words “Don’t do” on the counter and told the teller, “I am sorry, I have to do this but my life is on the line,” FBI Special Agent Todd Dorman wrote in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland.

The suspect said something about people watching him, “But the (teller) had no idea who ‘the people’ were that the robber was talking about,” Dorman wrote. The man left the bank with $5,073, authorities said.

On Dec. 6, Kairalla returned to the same bank, placed a bag on the counter and handed the teller a note reading, “I have a weapon, put the money in the bag,” Dorman wrote. The teller was momentarily confused because the writing on the note was difficult to read, but the suspect said, “You have 30 seconds” and began to count down in five-second intervals, the affidavit said. The robber fled with $5,345,

The Contra Costa County crime lab found a fingerprint from the first robbery that matched Kairalla, the FBI said. He was arrested Jan. 2 in West Palm Beach, Fla. on an outstanding Florida arrest warrant. Six days later, two San Ramon police detectives flew east to interview him, and he admitted to the two holdups, Dorman wrote.

But he told the detectives that “two different drug dealers, who kept most of the money from the robberies, forced him to commit the robberies,” Dorman wrote. Kairalla added that in exchange for the first robbery, he received $1,000 and a “quantity of heroin,” and enough money for a ticket to Florida and more heroin for the second robbery, Dorman said.

The affidavit noted that witness statements and surveillance video showed that Kairalla did not appear to be accompanied by anyone before, during or after each of the heists. Kairalla was indicted this month by a federal grand jury in Oakland on two charges of bank robbery.